American journal of public health
-
The author traces the development of the concept of health promotion from 1980s policies of the World Health Organization. Two approaches that signify the modernization of public health are outlined in detail: the European Health for All targets and the settings approach. ⋯ These approaches combine classic public health dictums with "new" strategies, some setting explicit goals to integrate public health with general welfare policy. Health for All, health promotion, and population health have contributed to this reorientation in thinking and strategy, but the focus of health policy remains expenditure rather than investment.
-
Violence is a public health problem that can be understood and changed. Research over the past 2 decades has demonstrated that violence can be prevented and that, in some cases, prevention programs are more cost-effective than other policy options such as incarceration. The United States has much to contribute to-and stands to gain much from-global efforts to prevent violence. A new World Health Organization initiative presents an opportunity for the United States to work with other nations to find cost-effective ways of preventing violence and reducing its enormous costs.
-
We investigated hysterectomy prevalence among Hispanic women. ⋯ Hispanic women undergo fewer hysterectomies than do non-Hispanic White women. The reasons for this, as well as information on ethnicity-specific appropriateness of hysterectomy, should be explored.
-
Historical Article
Health care reform and social movements in the United States.
Because of the importance of grassroots social movements, or "change from below," in the history of US reform, the relationship between social movements and demands for universal health care is a critical one. National health reform campaigns in the 20th century were initiated and run by elites more concerned with defending against attacks from interest groups than with popular mobilization, and grassroots reformers in the labor, civil rights, feminist, and AIDS activist movements have concentrated more on immediate and incremental changes than on transforming the health care system itself. However, grassroots health care demands have also contained the seeds of a wider critique of the American health care system, leading some movements to adopt calls for universal coverage.